NIEEB to issue bonds to buy shares

shares in foreign-owned companies through issuing bills and bonds.
This would give the indigenous people the financial muscle to acquire shares in foreign-controlled companies.
Under the empowerment laws, foreign-owned companies are required to sell at least 51 percent of their holding to black Zimba-bweans.
Government set up the NIEEB to, among other functions, oversee the implementation of the empowerment process and to warehouse shares on behalf of indigenous Zimbabweans.
“It is something that has been thoroughly attended to because the amount that we need to raise is substantial,” NIEEB chief executive Mr Wilson Gwatiringa said in an interview last week.
“We are going to primarily raise the money on capital markets locally and regionally through issuance of bills and bonds,” he said.
Mr Gwatiringa said they would also look at ways of “canvassing” Zimbabweans living abroad to subscribe to these instruments.
The board could also introduce an indigenisation levy on local firms.
But he noted a need to clarify the misconception surrounding the indigenisation programme, “so that our papers would be acceptable”.
“When the time comes (to raise money), we would have done enough to correct the misunderstandings,” he said.
There are several misconceptions on indigenisation, with some people thinking it is a Government ploy to seize foreign-owned businesses.
Government has maintained that the process was to ensure the black Zimbabweans take control of local resources.
But Mr Gwatiringa said it was premature to disclose the exact amount the board intended to raise. He said the indigenisation drive was now in full swing and questions had been raised regarding the availability of funds to buy the shares.
Meanwhile, the board has taken over the mandate of the National Investment Trust. Mr Gwatiringa said his board had taken over the investment portfolio of the NIT.
The NIT was formed by the Government to assist indigenous business through the provision of loans at affordable rates.
The NIT investment portfolio was heavily eroded by inflation while the loans they had advanced in Zimbabwe dollars became worthless.